"Don't get to bed too late, hun."
"Not too late," I told my wife as she planted a quick kiss on my lips. She smiled, adjusted her dressing gown and trotted off up the staircase to bed.
A film classic, one I'd used to watch religiously when I was much younger, had found its way onto Netflix, and so I'd set aside a night to indulge in some nostalgia. My wife Liv had always been one to catch an early night, and so I found myself out on the couch alone, a cup of freshly cooked popcorn in hand. As the TV booted up the film, I had snuggled under the thick blanket I'd left aside when I heard a voice from over my shoulder.
"You're watching something?" the voice asked, a little groggy.
I turned to see my daughter Sophia, standing in the living room doorway. Wiping her eyes, she came over to the back of the couch, studying the television screen. Sophia was dressed in a pair of short sleeping pants, and a loose t-shirt with one of her favourite bands' logos on it - some punky, rocky group I wasn't a cool enough dad to 'get'. As she leaned on the backrest of the couch, she yawned deeply, and her long curly brown hair drooped onto my shoulder.
"Looks old," she mumbled as the opening credits began.
"Would be to you," I told her, offering her the popcorn. She quickly grabbed a handful. "Made long before you came along, kiddo. But it's still a classic. You know a lot of the plane dogfights in it are real? There was no CGI back then, after all."
"Wow, thrilling," she said with zero interest, her mouth half full of popcorn.
Sophia definitely took after me in that she was a night owl; in her case, she was always playing some online game into the early hours of the morning. Because of that, she mostly kept to herself, locked in her room and only popping out when she needed to use the bathroom or gather more snacks in preparation for a long gaming session. My fatherly instincts kicked in at the chance of catching her outside of her room for the first time in a blue moon.
"You could always sit with me for a while if you like," I tried, assuming she would just blow me off to go do her own thing. To my surprise, she hummed lightly, mulling it over. Finally, she spoke.
"Alright, I guess. But you're sharing that blanket with me, it's cold as shit tonight," she climbed not too delicately over the back of the couch, bringing one leg and then the other over to sit.
"Language. But, uh, sure. Come under here," I lifted the blanket to allow her underneath.
As Sophia made herself comfortable under the covers, I noticed her breasts jiggle underneath the fabric of her t-shirt. It was very un-fatherly of me to pay attention to it, but the man in me couldn't help but fixate on their shape and heft as Sophia settled next to me. I could even see the tell-tale bumps of her nipples poking through the thin cotton, and I chided myself for the sudden effect she had on the organ in my pants. Eyes on the movie, you dirty old man.
For her part, Sophia didn't seem to notice my interest, taking another handful of popcorn and pulling the blanket up around her waist to cover her exposed legs. In the dim light of the movie, I could see her green eyes focusing on the film. Locks of her hair rested on the backrest of the couch and her shoulders, but I could see the nape of her neck and collarbone through her shirt's wide collar. Despite my best efforts to enjoy the film, I kept finding my eyes drawn back to the figure of my daughter. It really did seem like she had become a woman when I wasn't paying attention.
"Dad?"
My study of her was interrupted by her voice, and I realised that she was looking straight at me.
"What are you looking at?" Had she noticed that I'd been checking her out?